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There are so many different styles of wedding dresses and when I made my appointment to try some on, I told my four ladies to pick away and I would try them all on to know what style fit me best. We picked some with lace, some that were very form fitting, others that had straps or sleeves, and the list continues of some mermaid style dresses, A-line, and a fiesta style dress that made me feel like the emoji of the woman dancing in a red dress.

Here is my story…

I invited my mom, my sister, Dan’s mom, and his sister. I have not picked my bridesmaids yet, and wanted only family to be involved with choosing my dress. I felt like this is something I needed four totally different opinions for. Each person has their own individual style and I knew each of these ladies would give me their honest opinions.

Each girl picked 2-3 dresses for me to try on and so I started working away, trying on dress after dress taking photos of the front and back and walking around to see how it flowed. It reminded me of house hunting. After about eight dresses we figured out my style. I would put one on and right away I knew if it was a yes or no and the pile started to dwindle down. I had narrowed it down to two dresses and then one that I really liked and took the information down, but wanted to sleep on it to see if that was the dress.

Dan’s mom and sister had to head back to work, but after we were done at the first place, my sister recommended we go check out another place since we had the day off. So we hopped in the car, and headed over to Amanda’s Bridal. In my mind, I knew I liked that dress that I had put on at the other place, but you always hear that girls get emotional when they put on the dress. I have never been a super girly girl so maybe that is normal for me to not get emotional. Well. I was wrong.

At Amanda’s I walked in and was very honest with the assistant letting her know I wanted to try some on, but most likely am not going to buy today. We picked some out, tried them on, took some photos and then I put on dress number four, walked out, Tina- my assistant put some accessories with it, and when I turned around and looked at myself in the mirror the waterworks began. I turned around and then my sister, mom, and even Tina started to get teary-eyed and Tina says, “Well I don’t think we thought this was going to happen!” And she rushed around looking for tissues. I had found the dress. What! Is this for real? Let me try on one more just in case.

I put on another dress that I actually really did like, but just knew that the last dress made me feel like a bride. I put the previous dress back on and just remember my mom asking, “Are we buying a dress today?” And I said, “Yes!” This dress is amazing and I cannot wait to walk down the aisle to marry the man of my dreams.

First big item to check off the list. Now it’s the when and where that we need to figure out. 🙂

After a few weeks of shock, I can now sit down and write about the perfect engagement and how I cannot believe the time has finally come for us to plan a wedding and for me to be Mrs. Bullock.

As some of you know- Dan and I have been dating for almost five years, we have lived together for four, and have been doggie parents for three. He is the man of my dreams and no matter when you would have asked us, the answer to the question, “When are you two getting married,” was always, “three to five years.” You could have asked me on May 22 and I still would have answered the same. I literally had no idea a proposal was coming, so let me tell you about the surprise.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my best friend Kelli came into town and was staying with us and had plans to meet up with some old co-workers on Saturday the 23rd. Dan and I knew that with having a friend in town, the events are non-stop, and so we had planned that for the few hours she was away, we would go rent a movie, grab some food, and relax. As she left to go meet up with her co-workers, Dan and I ordered a pizza, grabbed a Redbox movie and were just excited to sit on the couch and do nothing. As we pulled onto our block from picking everything up, I noticed a woman mowing her lawn with a push mower and a baby sitting in a stroller, and she looked like she was struggling. I looked at Dan and insisted that we let her use our lawn mower. He gave me this look like ‘why is she always trying to be so nice’ and so when we parked, he went inside and I brought her our mower. When I got back inside, he had put in the movie and put down the curtains to block out the sunlight (it was maybe only 6:30pm). Right before the movie started, Dan says, “Don’t ask any questions, but I have a romantic night planned and just want you to relax. So don’t get up off the couch and let me take care of you.”

Jackpot. I get to just sit here and be catered to. Okay.

At around 7:30pm, Dan gets up off the couch and announces something along the lines of his first romantic act. He goes into our guest bedroom and brings me out a letter. I start to read it and immediately start crying. It talked about how technically we are married by common law, that he knows he wants me in his life forever, and is “80%, maybe 90% sure he wants to propose someday.” I just thought it was super cute and it got me pretty emotional. And then, he announces his second romantic act. This is where he has something behind his back and as he sits on the couch next to me he says that he knows he has never got me any jewelry, but wanted to get me something small and he pulls out the jewelry box and this is where my heart started to burst out of my chest. I of course was hoping it was an engagement ring, but didn’t want to get too crazy in case it was earrings or something else. Then he got down on one knee while I then proceeded to ball my eyes out and said yes a few too many times while he proposed.

After the initial shock of him proposing to me, Dan told me to call my mom to tell her the good news. I call her and at first she cannot hear me. The phone is breaking out. Of course… Thanks stupid cell phone. I yell over the phone that I am balling my eyes out and that Dan proposed. She tells me to go outside or something because she really cannot hear me. Annoyingly, I go outside and to my surprise, my family, his family, and a few close friends were hiding in our back yard, ready to celebrate. Tears cue up one more time.

We pop champagne, take photos, cheers, and celebrate our engagement the best way I could have ever imagined. Dan truly did an amazing job planning everything and I cannot wait to celebrate the rest of our lives together.

And from now on- every time I do something nice, I am hoping for some jewelry—kidding. To back track, Dan was a little freaked out when I brought our neighbor the lawn mower, because at about that time was when people were supposed to be heading over to the house for the surprise. I could have ruined everything, but luckily it all worked out and the secret was still safe.